Q And A: Larry Kehres

A.I suppose I'd be doing something in the business world. But to tell the truth, right now I can't picture myself doing anything but coaching.

Q: a head coach for 14 years, are you still learning?

A:Yes, of course. That's part of the changes a coach needs to make. Anticipating problems is how I'd put it. When something works, you know others will try to stop it and you need to anticipate that. You always need to be ready for a problem and the change that follows. That's exciting, when you see something new and different, and you wonder whether the opponent can stop it.

Q: You haven't had a lot of coaching stops but you reflect a lot of knowledge about the game and where you want your football program to fit in at the Division III level. How and where did you gain such knowledge?

A: Football coaches generally are willing to share. The avenues available are clinics and reading, and conversations with friends in coaching help all of us come up with ideas. Also, there're a tremendous number of games on TV, and I attend a lot of high school games. Talking with your own staff often results in some very good ideas. Any coach can learn about football if he takes advantage of the opportunities.

Q: You speak highly of clinics and the help those gatherings have been in broadening your football knowledge. What is it that you look for when selecting clinics to attend?

A: I pay a lot of attention to the clinic program because I want to listen to speakers who will touch on the technical as well as philosophical aspects of coaching football. I hardly ever go to a clinic just to go.

Q: You're the head coach, Don Montgomery is the defensive coordinator and Erik Raeburn is the offensive coordinator. How do you know when to step away from tasks that the head coach shouldn't do and let the coordinators handle them?

A: That's a good question. As a head coach, my responsibility is for all areas of the team and so I must have input. The head coach also must understand that his ideas may not be the best, and he has to consider the ideas of the staff. We sort of leave those decisions to the staff, and they don't always pick my ideas.

Q:You have a staff that seems to work quite well together. Can you speak to that chemistry?

A: We really like each other. We enjoy getting together. When I go golfing, I usually go with guys who help me coach. Or (retired Mount Union coach) Ken Wable. Most of my social interactions are with guys I coach with.

Q: How do you describe yourself?

A: In 1990 Mount Union wanted to make a video that could be used for recruiting. We hired a one-woman company. She talked to players and had some of the players talk to other players. One player was asked to describe the coaches and when he got to me, he said I was business-like. At first I wasn't sure I liked that. But the longer I thought about it, I came to believe that that was a fair assessment. When I go to practice, I don't feel the need to yell and scream. So, yeah, I guess I'm business-like.

Q: Describe yourself as a player during your career at Mount Union?

A: I shared playing time with Ed Unger, my roomie, during my junior and senior seasons. Nobody likes not playing but splitting time with Ed gave me the perspective of someone who wants to play more while, at the same time, supporting a teammate and friend who also is playing. The situation matured me and helped me gain an appreciation for players who stick with a program even though they're not getting much playing time.

Q:It's only been the last couple of years that you've had a computer on the corner of your desk. How do you use it?

A: I'm not that skilled in the use of a computer. It allows me to be in contact with prospective student-athletes who want to send me messages. Also, coaching friends around the country keep in touch. It also allows the staff to compile information that can be printed out and distributed to other assistants rather than written or typed out, copied and all that. I could get along without my computer but I couldn't get along without my visual-aid equipment. I watch a lot of tapes on teams and individuals.

Q: Do you and your staff place a great deal of importance on an opponent's tendencies?

A: We look at down-and-distance, formations and what an opponent does in certain field-position situations. In the Ohio Athletic Conference, we receive only three films for study purposes so we don't have every play of every series of every game. In that regard, our information is limited.

Q: Of the coaches you've been around, who have influenced you and in what way?

A: Ken Wable, my head coach at Mount Union and the man I replaced, influenced me the most. I played for him and was an assistant to him for 11 seasons. Wable believed that whatever you did in

football needed to be fundamentally sound. Interesting thing about Wable. Ed Sherman was Wable's coach at Muskingum College and later the NCAA's executive secretary. In that role, Sherman was instrumental in the development of the Division III classification. I've always felt proud of the fact that through Sherman and Wable, I could regard myself as only two steps removed from the actual formation of Division III.

Q: You're known for downplaying the emotions of the game. Why?

A: Well, I try to prepare so that whatever emotions are at work help us win. If emotions get in the way of winning or if they contribute to a loss, then I feel as if I haven't done my job as a coach. And so I try to control what sometimes is very difficult to control, and that's the emotion that's working on everyone.

Q: You're at a clinic and a young coach that somehow reminds you of yourself at that stage of your career approaches with many questions. How do you react?

A: I try to answer every questions they have. In terms of advice in looking for jobs, I tell them to stick with it, to persevere. One young man wrote to say that when he was looking for a job, he wrote to me and I wrote back and tried to encourage him. He said he took my advice and continued to look, and now is in a very satisfying coaching position. There's a level of personal and professional respect there for all of us to enjoy.

"We have a style of offense and defense in which players, at times, look to be a nearly perfect fit. Other times, players reveal to us that they can do things that perhaps we hadn't counted on, and so we certainly try to incorporate that into our style of play."

The Kehres File
1967-70 Mount Union College player/QB
1971-72 Bowling Green grad assistant
1973 Johnstown Monroe (Ohio) H.S. head coach
1974-85 Mount Union College assistant coach
1986-presentMount Union College head coach
Notes:

• Has compiled a 150-17-3 in 14 seasons as head coach at Mount Union

• MUC won an NCAA all-division-record 54 consecutive games from 1996-99

• Has won four national championships (1993, 1996, 1997 and 1998)